Legal Question in Employment Law in Pennsylvania

Can poential employers and/or past employers ask

My wife was fired before Christmas for supposed violation of company policy which NO one follows. She did not do it intentinally but did not know the NEW policy. She knows for fact that other people in the company did the same thing with not consequences. Also she was replaced with a person scheduled to have their position eliminated at the end of last year. She worked there for 12 years with no disiplinary incidents and was top 5 in the region in any job function she did. Now potential employers are passing over her because she has been honest and told them why she was let go.

First are potential employers allowed to ask why and second can the past employer state why if they are asked? I know employers I had in the past would only give info as to when they worked for that company as to stay away from lawsuits.

She doesn't want to lie but right now nobody is calling except to say they're not interested. We wanted to let it go but now the company has also appealed her UC benefits. Its not revenge but the principal now.


Asked on 2/02/06, 5:18 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Mark Johns Mark Johns, Esquire

Re: Can poential employers and/or past employers ask

If the facts you state can be proven she has a good unemployment case. As to disclosure, if she wins the unemployment case she will have been determined to have been let go for a reason other than good cause. She can then stylize her termination as a reduction in force. Most employers will only confirm dates of employment and therefore a bit of puffing about how she was let go would probably go unnoticed. However, she could be fired for cause in the future if she does lie about it and is found out.

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Answered on 2/02/06, 5:43 pm


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